Nearly a year after ABN Amro launched a six-month trial to offer customer support via WhatsApp, the company has announced the addition of a ‘payment request’ feature that will be enabled via the popular mobile messaging app.

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An excerpt from the Google play store for the Tikkie app shows the links created which are sent along with a tailored WhatsApp message.

Commenting in a statement regarding the launch, Frank Verkerk, Chief Digital Officer of ABN AMRO, said: “How often do you lend somebody money, but have a hard time – for whatever reason – asking to be repaid? We believe Tikkie solves this problem. Nothing could be easier than sending a WhatsApp message with an iDEAL payment request.”

To WhatsApp contacts

The new feature works by users submitting via Tikkie the amount that they want to transfer followed by the recipient from their WhatsApp contacts. A link is then created that can be sent via a WhatsApp message.

While the approach seems more mechanical than payments sent for example within Facebook – which has an integrated payments solution – the Tikkie developers appeared to have worked their code using the available API channels as a 3rd party.

The news follows just days after ABN AMRO announced that it will open the Econic innovation hub in Eindhoven for fintech earlier this week.